Gay Judge Never Considered Dropping Prop 8 Case

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. judge who
struck down California's gay marriage ban never considered his
own homosexuality as a reason to recuse himself from the case,
he said Wednesday.

Former U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who retired from
the bench at the end of February, said it would not be
appropriate for any judge's sexual orientation, ethnicity,
national origin or gender to stop them from presiding over a
case.

"That's a very slippery slope," Walker said.

The talk to a handful of reporters was Walker's first
public comments to reporters about presiding over the lawsuit
challenging to Proposition 8, which banned gay marriage in
California. Walker struck down the ban as unconstitutional, and
the case is currently on appeal.

It was also the first time Walker publicly acknowledged his
own sexual orientation. Walker said he has been in a
relationship with the man for 10 years. "He is a physician,"
Walker said.

Walker is a Midwesterner, born in 1944 in Watseka,
Illinois, about 90 miles south of Chicago. He worked
for years at one of San Francisco's top law firms before being
nominated to the federal bench in 1989 by George H.W. Bush.

He made for an unpredictable jurist, ruling against the
government in a widely watched state secrets case. In another
matter that has become lore at the San Francisco federal
courthouse, Walker sentenced a mail thief to stand outside a
post office, carrying a sign with the words: "I stole mail.
This is my punishment."

Walker served as chief judge in the Northern District of
California for six years before retiring in February. He said
he has launched his own practice focusing on alternative
dispute resolution.

SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - The U.S. judge who
struck down California's gay marriage ban never considered his
own homosexuality as a reason to recuse himself from the case,
he said Wednesday. Former U.S. District Judge Vaughn Walker, who retired from
the bench at the end...